


Just Between Us

by onceuponanevilangel



Category: Agent Carter (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/F
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-10-26
Updated: 2016-01-26
Packaged: 2018-04-28 07:18:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 8,813
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5082748
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/onceuponanevilangel/pseuds/onceuponanevilangel
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>All Angie's ever wanted to do is be an actress, so when she lands what could be the biggest role of her career, of course research is a given. Falling in love with a veteran with more facets than a diamond and more than her fair share of scars? Not so much. But then again, the best things in life are always unexpected.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This story is actually based off of a tumblr gifset (http://onceuponanevilangel.tumblr.com/post/130480119469/ioweyouabourbon-cartinelli-modern-au-angie-is) and vintagelespionage asked me to write it, so naturally I did. I'm going to apologize in advance because (1) updates are probably going to be super sporadic for most of November and (2) I've done some research, but there are still a lot of things that I just don't know about the military, so if you notice any glaring mistakes, please feel free to let me know.
> 
> Un-betaed, so I apologize for any mistakes.

“Please don’t do this.”

 

“I’m sorry, Caroline. I have to.”

 

Three gunshots rang out in quick succession and the empty casings clattered to the pavement. There was a moment of silence and then--

 

“Cut! That’s a wrap. Nice job everybody.” The director’s voice was loud and clear even above the rising chatter of the set.

 

Angie lifted herself slowly off the pavement and propped herself up on her elbows so that she could get a good look at her ‘wounds.’ There was fake blood blooming in bright patterns across her white blouse and pooling beneath her. It was going to take forever to wash it all off.

 

“Nice job, Angie. I totally believed you there.” A hand reached down to accompany the voice and Angie was helped to her feet by her co-star, Dottie.

 

“Thanks, Dot,” Angie said. She groaned as she got to her feet. Falling on the ground three times in a row so that the camera guy could get a good shot took quite a toll on her, well, everything.

 

“No problem,” she said. “By the way, I think I heard that Howard wants to see you in the writers’ room.”

 

Angie nodded and stretched her arms above her head before setting off towards her trailer to clean herself up. She changed quickly and ran a brush through her hair before hurrying across the film lot toward the writers’ room.

 

It was a large room with at the end of a long hallway in the main building. There was a huge whiteboard hanging on the wall opposite the door, covered in scribbles and notes in multi-colored dry erase markers. A second wall was all windows out onto the rest of the lot, and a third was practically covered with rainbow sticky notes arranged in some sort of pattern that Angie couldn’t decipher.

 

Writers, she had decided, were very strange.

 

There was only one other person in the room. Howard, the head writer-slash-director-slash principal shareholder of the entire studio was sitting in a rolling chair at the table in front of the white board. When he heard Angie come in, he swiveled around and smiled at her.

 

“Ah, there’s the star I wanted to see. Come in, come in. Sit down and make yourself comfortable,” Howard said, gesturing at another rolling chair.

 

Angie stepped a little further into the room, shutting the door gently behind her and sat hesitantly down in the empty chair. “Hey. Dottie said you wanted to see me about something?”

 

“Yeah. I know you’re flying back east tonight, but I wanted to give you a going-away present of sorts. I’ve got the contact number of a friend of a friend who served a couple tours in Iraq. She works down at the VA in DC now and from the sound of it, she’d be willing to talk to you a little. You know, give you some personal details so you can really knock this new show out of the park. You are playing an Iraq vet, aren’t you?”

 

“Afghanistan, actually,” Angie said. “But I’m sure it’ll be the same gist. Thank you so much for this. I’m flying back out to New York, but I can just take the train down to DC or something like that. It’ll be great.”

 

“Good. And you’re coming back out for the wrap party next month, right?” Howard asked.

 

“Of course,” Angie replied, flashing him her winning smile. “I wouldn’t miss it for the world.”

 

“Good.” Howard and Angie both stood up and he pulled her in for a quick hug. “We’ll miss you around here, kid. It won’t be the same without our resident sassy secret agent.”

 

Angie giggled. “I’ll miss you all too.”

 

“Did you make the rounds yet? Say goodbye to everyone?”

 

“I did that yesterday. I’m just trying to slip out without a scene today. I think it’s better that way, plus my flight’s in a few hours and I still need to finish packing.” Angie stepped over to the door and rested her hand on the knob. “Besides, I’ll see everyone again in another month, so it’s not really goodbye. Not yet.”

 

“True,” Howard said. “Well, you better get going then. Good luck, kid.”

 

“Thanks,” Angie said. “I could probably use it.”

* * *

Being one of the biggest names in cult television certainly had its perks.

One of the most obvious was, of course, being able to fly first class. The five hour flight back to New York passed quickly with champagne and leg room, but by the time her luggage came around the carousel, the jet lag was starting to catch up with her.

It was almost five in the morning and she had to be ready to catch the train from Penn Station to DC in nine hours.

 

That was probably enough time for a nap.

 

She took a taxi to her hotel, checked into her room. and collapsed on the bed, still fully clothed. She was asleep in less than a minute.

 

Angie was awakened exactly eight and a half hours later by the alarm on her phone buzzing loudly from inside her purse. She groaned and rolled off the bed, stumbling over to her luggage to shut the damn thing off already.

 

It was then that it suddenly dawned on her that she had thirty minutes to make her train.

 

She hadn’t even taken anything out of either of her bags, so it took no time at all to grab her things and hurry down to the lobby to check out.

 

Another perk of being a _cult_ television star: Angie wasn’t widely recognized by the general public.

 

Granted that was maybe due in part to the fact that there was always something or someone more interesting to look at on the streets of New York, but either way, Angie was able to run the three blocks to Penn Station without anyone stopping her. When she found her platform, she was out of breath, her hair was tangled all around her face, and she was still disoriented from the jet lag, but she had three minutes to spare before her train pulled in.

 

And that was how it was done.

 

Angie found an empty row about halfway down the train and sat down. She put her suitcase and purse in the seat next to her to make sure the row stayed empty and pulled her phone out of her pocket to call Howard’s friend.

 

Or his friend’s friend.

 

Whatever.

 

She dialed the number Howard had given her and on the third ring, a woman picked up.

 

“Hello?”

 

“Hi,” Angie said. “My name is Angie Martinelli. I’m looking to talk to a…” She squinted at the name that was scrawled on the sticky note above the phone number. “...Carter?”

 

“Speaking,” the woman said. “What can I help you with.”

 

Her voice was smooth like silk and she had a British accent.

 

Oh God, was Angie weak for British accents.

 

She cleared her throat and continued.

 

“Hi. Um, I don’t know if anyone told you I was going to be calling. I’m an actress. I work with Howard Stark and I--”

 

“Oh, yes, I just got off the phone with Howard last night. He told me you were coming to DC to meet with me?”

 

“Yeah. I, um, I have a new role playing a veteran and I was hoping to talk to you a little bit. You know, get a real perspective on how to play the character to make sure she’s done right.” Angie switched her phone to her other ear and started using the index finger of her free hand to pick at the blue polish on her thumb.

 

“Oh, that sounds wonderful,” Carter said. Angie could practically hear her smile through the phone “Yes, of course, I’d be happy to talk with you. When are you getting to DC do you think?”

 

“Well my train should be getting in in a few hours, but it’s not probably not a good idea to meet today. I haven’t showered and I still smell like airport. Maybe I’ll give you a call tomorrow morning and we’ll see what works best?”

 

“That sounds absolutely lovely, Angie. I’ll talk to you tomorrow then.”

 

“All right. Bye.”

 

Angie hung up and tossed her phone in back in her purse. She glanced out the window and saw buildings and trees flitting across her view as the train sped south.

 

It was then that she realized she hadn’t gotten Carter’s first name.

* * *

 

First order of business when Angie got to her hotel in DC: shower.

 

Second order of business: eat something other than airplane food or train coffee.

 

Third order of business: call Carter and maybe see about getting both a face-to-face meeting and a first name.

 

In that order.

 

The shower was nice. It felt good to scrub the general grimy feeling of travel from her skin and Angie stood under the hot water until her fingers started to prune. When she finally got out, she got dressed quickly and ventured outside to find some place to eat.

 

There was a small café a few blocks down. The words ‘organic’ and/or ‘all-natural’ followed almost every item on the menu board, but Angie just ordered a coffee and a grilled cheese sandwich to go. She walked over to a small park-like area in the center of the traffic circle outside and settled down on a bench under a tree to eat.

 

The sandwich wasn’t horrible, but the coffee was so bitter Angie almost spit out her first sip.

 

It was still coffee, though, and she managed to drink the rest of it, but it was awful.

 

Lesson learned. No more health nut cafes. She supposed she’d just have to find a Starbucks somewhere around here.

 

After she finished her meal, Angie tossed her cup and sandwich wrapper in a nearby garbage can before sitting back down and pulling out her phone to call Carter again.

 

This time, she picked up on the first ring.

 

“Hello?”

 

“Hey. It’s Angie. Just figured I’d call and let you know I’m here.”

 

“Oh, yes, of course. Hi, Angie. It’s nice to hear from you again.”

 

“Nice to hear you too.”

 

There was a pause that bordered on the realm of awkward, but then Carter cleared her throat and spoke.

 

“So you wanted to meet, right? Interview me?”

 

“Something like that, yeah,” Angie said. She was blushing. She could feel the heat creeping up her cheeks and she was really glad Carter couldn’t see her.

 

“Okay, well I’m a little busy tomorrow, but I sort of run a kind of open group session at the VA and if you wanted to come and just sit in on one, it might give you a place to start?”

 

“That sounds great. And then maybe we could meet up again whenever you’re free for a little bit longer?” Angie asked.

 

“Does lunchtime Friday work for you?”

 

“Sounds perfect. I guess I’ll talk to you tomorrow then.”

 

“I guess you will.”

 

“Yeah.”

 

There was another awkward pause and Angie twisted the toe of her flats in the grass.

 

“The meeting starts around seven in the evening. I guess I’ll see you then.”

 

“Wait!” Angie cried. She cringed at the volume of her own voice, but it did the job.

 

“Yes?” Carter asked.

 

“What’s your first name?” Angie asked. “I didn’t ask you yesterday and I just almost forgot to, so what should I call you?”

 

“My name’s Margaret, but please call me Peggy.”

 

“Peggy,” Angie said, trying the name out on her tongue. With that voice and that accent, she certainly sounded like a Peggy. “All right then, Peggy. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

 

There was another smile in Peggy’s voice as she said, “See you tomorrow.”

 

As Angie slipped her phone in her pocket, she couldn’t keep herself from smiling.

* * *

The VA was a relatively small building, but it was air-conditioned inside, and that was good enough for Angie. Not only was the August weather unbearably hot outside, but it was sticky with the kind of humidity that could only be found south of New York.

 

She had shown up almost half an hour early for the session and the young redhead at the front desk told her to go right on in and find a seat.

 

The main room was large with windows all along one wall and rows of metal folding chairs facing towards a podium. There were a couple of folding tables at the back of the room. They were covered with white tablecloths and there was a pitcher of water, a stack of cups, and a plate of brownies on one of them.

 

Angie thought briefly about getting up and grabbing one, but she wasn’t going to be _that_ person.

 

Beside, her morning’s search for a suitable Starbucks to replace the hippie café had been pretty successful. There were three on Connecticut Avenue alone, so of course Angie had already filled up on pastries and lattes.

 

After a few minutes, people started flowing into the room one, two, three at a time. A few of them brought trays and pans of baked goods and when Angie looked up from her phone a few minutes later, she found that the tables were now practically covered in food.

 

The room continued to fill with people and by seven o’clock on the dot, they all found seats and sat there staring at the podium.

 

Angie looked back down at her phone and started setting up the voice recorder so that she could listen to the session again if she needed to.

 

“Hello, everyone. I’m really pleased to see you all.”

 

Angie looked up at the sound of the familiar voice.

 

There was a woman standing at the podium now; a tall woman with dark hair that curled softly around her perfectly sculpted face and dark eyes that sparkled even from across the room. Her lips were painted a bright crimson and her red nails tapped against the top of the podium as she spoke.

 

It was Peggy.

 

Angie crossed her legs and squirmed slightly in her seat as Peggy looked at her and gave her a small smile.

 

“All right, everyone, before we begin, I’d like to introduce Miss Angie Martinelli to you. Angie, would you mind standing up for a moment?”

 

It took a second for Peggy’s words to actually register, but once they did, Angie nodded and stood up.

 

“Excellent. Lovely to finally see your face.” Peggy smiled at her again, those brown eyes crinkling slightly at the corners. Then she went back to addressing the whole room. “Anyway, Miss Martinelli is an actress and she’s going to be playing a veteran in a new television show, so she’s going to be sitting in on our session today to get a little bit of background knowledge. If you don’t want to share everything in front of her, that’s completely fine, but I’m sure she’ll respect our trust, right?”

 

“Of course,” Angie said.

 

“Excellent. So without further adieu, let’s get this meeting started. Who wants to go first?”

 

 

 

After the meeting ended, everyone headed to the back tables for food and conversation. Peggy was right there with them, chatting with people here and there.

 

Angie, however, was frozen to her seat.

 

The hour long group session had turned out to pretty much be the veterans telling stories of the things that happened to them since they got back from overseas. One woman had gotten pulled over for swerving at a plastic bag because she mistook it for an IED. Another man had missed the birth of his daughter while he was recovering from having his leg amputated. It was some pretty heavy stuff and it took a few minutes before Angie could stand.

 

“Hey,” Peggy said, coming up behind Angie with a cup of water and a chocolate chip cookie. “How are you doing?”

 

“I’m good,” Angie said. “I’m good, I just…some of that was pretty emotional. I mean, I kind of expected as much, but it was heavy.”

 

Peggy leaned casually against the wall and nodded. “Yeah. Some weeks are worse than others, but this one wasn’t too bad.”

 

“I can’t even imagine.”

 

“Yes, well, we’ve all got our stories, I suppose. They make us who we are, the good and the bad.”

 

“Poetic,” Angie said.

 

“Thank you,” Peggy replied with a small smile. “Are we still on for lunch tomorrow?”

 

“Yeah, just let me know what time and where and I’ll be there.”

 

“How about one? There’s this great little pizza place off of DuPont Circle and we can get cupcakes after. You know, if you…if you like that sort of thing, that is.” Peggy’s perfect cheekbones were turning a light shade of pink and she looked down at the gray carpet rather then meet Angie’s eyes.

 

“That sounds great,” Angie said.

 

“Hey, Peggy?” One of the vets, a rather short man with dark hair, a square jaw, and a prosthetic leg had suddenly appeared next to them. “I’m sorry if I’m interrupting anything, but I’ve gotta get going and I was hoping to get a chance to talk to you for a second?”

 

“Yeah, Daniel, of course,” Peggy said. She turned back to Angie. “So I’ll see you tomorrow then?”

 

“You will indeed,” Angie replied. “And now you even know what I look like, so it should be easy.”

 

Peggy laughed. “Yes, I suppose it will be. I’ll see you.”

 

“See ya.”

 

Angie slung her purse over her shoulder and grabbed a brownie off the snack table before hurrying back outside into the horrifically humid August night.

* * *

 

 

Peggy was late.

 

Actually, Angie had been late getting there herself, which made Peggy super late.

 

The whole walk to the pizza place, Angie had been preparing various apologies and excuses as to why she was almost ten minutes late for lunch, but when she got there, Peggy wasn’t there.

 

So naturally she ordered a soda and waited and played Candy Crush on her phone and waited and checked her twitter and waited and finally just stared out the window as she stirred her Coke with her straw. If Peggy wasn’t there by the time she finished her soda, Angie was really going to leave.

 

Just as she had made up her mind that she was only going to wait another five minutes, the door opened and Peggy appeared, red-cheeked and out of breath like she had run across half the city.

 

Except she wasn’t running.

 

She was limping.

 

She spotted Angie at the table next to the window and sat down in the empty chair.

 

“Hi,” she said. “Sorry I’m so late. It was a long walk over and I—“

 

“You’re limping,” Angie blurted out.

 

Peggy furrowed her brows and looked curiously at Angie. “I’m sorry?”

 

“Sorry,” Angie said, blushing and taking another sip of her Coke. “I’m not the best with tact, so I’m gonna just apologize in advance if I say something out of line. Just tell me and I’ll drop it, but back to my original point, you were limping when you came in here. Are you okay?”

 

“Oh, yeah, fine,” Peggy said, waving her hand dismissively. “Just an old wound acting up. It’s no big deal really. Have you ordered yet?”

 

“No, I was waiting for you. What’s good here?”

 

“Pepperoni’s what I normally get, but everything’s good,” Peggy said.

 

“Nah, I’ll just have pepperoni too then.”

 

“Luca!” Peggy called. The teenage boy behind the counter turned around and Peggy held up two fingers.

 

“Comin’ right up,” he said.

 

“So I take it you come here pretty often then,” Angie said, raising an eyebrow.

 

“You could say that.”

 

Peggy crossed her legs under the table and Angie couldn’t help but notice the wince that crossed her face as she moved her right leg.

 

“That’s strike two,” Angie said.

 

“Huh?”

 

“The limp was strike one, the wince was strike two. I see one more sign of pain out of you and we’re cutting this meeting short. I don’t have to leave any time soon.”

 

“I appreciate the sentiment, but I’m really fine,” Peggy said.

 

“Mmhm.”

 

Just then Luca came over to their table with two slices of steaming pepperoni pizza. He set them down on the table, smiled at them, and headed back behind the counter.

 

“Okay, so you want to interview me,” Peggy said. “Fire away.”

 

“All right, well first and foremost, I don’t need any specifics, but if I ask something that’s too personal or anything like that, feel free to not answer. I don’t want to dredge anything up that doesn’t need to be dredged,” Angie said.

 

“Understood,” Peggy replied. “Go right ahead.”

 

Angie took a bit of her pizza and then asked, “So you’re obviously British or at least you spent a pretty good amount of time in England, so how’d you end up in the US army?”

 

“Well first off, I was in the marines, not the army, but to answer your question, my father’s American. Or he was. He died when I was quite young. I was born in Massachusetts, but I lived in London with my mother from the time I was three all the way up until college. I went to West Point and then things happened and I became a marine.”

 

Peggy took a bite of her own lunch as Angie tried to think up another question. In hindsight, maybe she should have actually written some down earlier.

 

“So…I noticed a lot of the vets at the thing last night seemed pretty close. Did you make friends over there or is it all just coming back?”

 

“No, I made a few good friends overseas. Dugan and Barnes and a few others. One of them, Steve Rogers, I was quite close to in a manner of speaking. It was good.”

 

“You miss them?”

 

“Of course,” Peggy said around a mouthful of food. In the brief gap between questions she had managed to cram half her slice in her mouth so that her clipped British accent came out muffled. She blushed and swallowed before continuing. “We do all see each other quite a bit, though, so it’s not so bad.”

 

“That’s good. So what’s wrong with your leg?”

 

That question made Peggy pause and looked confused for a moment like Angie’s words hadn’t quite registered.

 

“An IED,” she said. “Ste—Captain Rogers and I were out on a patrol one night and we got hit. He didn’t make it out and I needed three surgeries on my right leg to even be able to put weight on it,” Peggy said. Her voice was strong, but there were tears starting to pool at the edges of her eyes. They didn’t fall, though. “Normally it’s not so bad, but I’m still in physical therapy and I haven’t had a session in almost a week.”

 

“Oh shit,” Angie said, her eyes widening. “You’ve been skipping your PT?”

 

“No!” Peggy snapped. “I go Monday, Wednesday, Friday, but I was sick last Friday, my therapist was out on Monday, I had a doctor’s appointment Wednesday, and okay fine, I am skipping today to meet with you but, I didn’t think it was going to be a big deal. As long as I don’t walk too much, I’ll be fine.”

 

“Shit, English, you didn’t have to skip your appointment to meet with me!” Angie exclaimed. “That’s insane! Okay, we’re done here.”

 

“What? I just got here,” Peggy complained.

 

“Yeah, well now you’re going home. Did you walk here?”

 

“Yes, but it’s only three blocks. I’ll be fine.”

 

“I don’t believe you,” Angie said. “I’ll walk with you.”

 

“Oh, Angie, you really don’t have to do that, I—“

 

“Too late. Get up. Lunch is on me.” Angie stood up and pulled a few crumpled bills out of her purse to cover the pizza and a pretty substantial tip for Luca. Peggy, meanwhile, had given up arguing and was pulling herself slowly out of her chair, leaning heavily on the wall as she straightened up.

 

“Geez, Peggy how the hell did you even walk down here?” Angie asked. She walked over and lent her arm for Peggy to get her balance before she took a step.

 

“Admittedly sitting on a hard seat with my knee bent even for a few minutes was not my best move,” Peggy replied. It took her a second to get situated, but once she did, she started to pull her hand off of Angie’s arm, but Angie stopped her.

 

“Nope, come on. Let’s go.”

 

Peggy sighed and rolled her eyes, but she stopped protesting and let Angie lead her outside into the summer afternoon heat.

 

The walk back to Peggy’s apartment may have only been three blocks, but it took almost fifteen minutes to cover one. Peggy leaned heavily on Angie’s arm and she was so close that Angie could smell her strawberry shampoo and the faint scent of her flowery perfume and--

 

_Stay focused, Angie. You barely even know this woman. Maybe stop getting attached to the smell of her hair._

 

“Angie? Hello?”

 

Angie shook her head suddenly as she realized that Peggy had stopped walking outside a townhouse that looked a lot like almost every other townhouse on the street.

 

“Huh? Yeah, I’m listening,” Angie said, shaking her head suddenly. She had been so lost in her own thoughts that she hadn’t even noticed where they were. “Wait, is this your house?”

 

Peggy nodded.

 

“You have to go up a flight of stairs to get into your house?” Angie asked, staring at the dozen or so crumbling concrete steps that led up to Peggy’s front door.

 

“Admittedly not the greatest situation to be in, but the rent’s cheap,” Peggy said. She refused to meet Angie’s eyes and her cheeks were starting to turn pink again. “But I’m sure I can manage. Thanks for walking me home.”

 

“Oh no. I’m not just leaving you here,” Angie said. “You skipped physical therapy for me. The least I can do is help you back inside.”

 

The stairs were slow going and Peggy had to hold tight to the railing as Angie supported her left arm. It took a few minutes to make it all the way up to the front door. Peggy pulled a key out of her pocket and unlocked the door before pushing it open and letting Angie into a long, narrow hallway.

 

The house smelled like fresh air and as Angie helped Peggy down the hall, she could see into a small kitchen and an office with open windows that were spilling sunlight over the hardwood floor. They moved along to the end of the hall into a rather large living room with mismatched, but comfortable-looking furniture. Peggy led the way over to the beige couch and sank down onto the cushions, stretching her right leg out in front of her.

 

“You good?” Angie asked. “You need anything else? Maybe some ice? Coffee, tea, whatever it is you English people drink?”

 

“Actually, there’s an electric blanket on the chair over there. Do you think you could grab it for me and plug it in?” Peggy asked, sitting up a little more against the armrest. “There’s an outlet at the end of the couch there.”

 

“Yeah, of course.” Angie turned around and grabbed the fluffy red blanket off the chair behind her and draped it over Peggy’s leg before moving to the end of the couch to plug it in. “Anything else?”

 

“No, that’s it. I’m so sorry we didn’t have time to talk more.”

 

“That’s okay,” Angie said with a small smile. “I guess we’ll just have to get together again some time.”

 

“I suppose we will.”

 

“Okay. Well call me when you’re mobile again and we’ll talk. Maybe then you’ll actually be able to take me by that cupcake place.”

 

“Sounds lovely,” Peggy said with a smile.

 

“Yeah.” Angie started to turn around, but then she thought of something else and spun back on her heel. “And don’t skip therapy again! In fact call them right now!”

 

Peggy chuckled. “All right, I’ll call. I promise.”

 

“Good. You sure you’re all set?”

 

“Yes, I’m fine,” Peggy insisted. She leaned over and grabbed the TV remote off the coffee table and smiled confidently at Angie.

 

Angie shot her a withering look, but she didn’t say anything. She just turned around and walked back down the hallway, letting herself out through the front door.

 

She stopped outside and leaned against the door for a second to collect her thoughts. She wasn’t exactly sure what she had expected when she first dialed that number on the train, but it definitely hadn’t been Peggy Carter.

 

Angie grabbed the railing and picked her way carefully down the concrete steps and set off back towards DuPont Circle. She was pretty sure they had passed a grocery store or something on the way to Peggy’s house and if she was going to be staying in the city much longer, she was definitely going to need to eat something other than Starbucks pastries and pizza for almost every meal.

  
And apparently she was staying for a while.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's been a while, but here's chapter 2! Any feedback you've got would be greatly appreciated.

Angie had been in DC for exactly ten days and in those tens days, she had learned three things.

 

One: it didn’t matter what time she went outside. It was always unbearably humid and it made her hair frizz and by mid-afternoon, she figured she might as well have been swimming through the air.

 

Two: all of the monuments and buildings and museums were so much bigger than the pictures in her old history textbooks had led her to believe and yet they were somehow still underwhelming. But then again maybe that had more to do with the scaffolding all around the dome of the capital building and the grass that was being reseeded on the National Mall.

 

Three: checking her phone for new messages every fifteen minutes for the past week had not made Peggy call yet.

 

Angie was starting to get a little bit worried.

 

Actually, she was pretty sure she had skipped over ‘worried’ entirely and was now hovering somewhere around ‘panicking’.

 

It had been a week since her lunch with Peggy and despite Peggy’s promise to call when she was feeling better, there had been no calls, no texts, no nothing.

 

Of course, there was always the possibility that Peggy just wasn’t doing much better yet. Angie had never had leg surgery or been to physical therapy, so she had no idea how long she should wait before she had good reason to worry.

 

To be fair, there was also nothing stopping Angie from calling first, but she wasn’t _that_ desperate. Not yet at least.

 

Angie was sitting on the bed in her hotel room, old reruns of The X-files playing on the TV that she wasn’t really watching as she painted a fresh coat of green polish on her fingernails. There were raindrops splashing against the windows and the city outside was shrouded in gray.

 

Her phone buzzed on the nightstand next to her. She ignored it, though. She still had her right hand to polish and besdies, it was probably just Dottie.

 

Dottie had texted her over a dozen times in the last two days alone. She wanted to know everything about the city and Angie and how everything was going, but Angie didn’t have much to report anyway.

 

She had found a decent burger joint and a good grocery store and had basically mastered the remote control for the TV in her room. That was all that really mattered.

 

The only other thing she could _maybe_ talk about was Peggy, but Angie wasn’t sure she wanted to tell anyone about that just yet.

 

Especially not Dottie. The girl was sweet, but secrets weren’t exactly her strong suit.

 

Angie finished up her nails and screwed the top back on the polish bottle. She set it down on the nightstand and grabbed her phone, being careful not to smudge the polish.

 

She slid the pad of her finger across the screen and saw a text message waiting for her.

 

She did a double take when she saw the name that was definitely not Dottie’s.

 

It was Peggy.

 

_Hi, Angie. Sorry it’s been such a while. I was thinking about going for a cupcake this afternoon if you’d like to join me? If not, I’ll call later. –Peggy_

 

Angie felt her lips twitching up in a hint of a smile.

 

She couldn’t help but hear the message in Peggy’s voice. It just fit so well.

 

Angie started typing out a response before she was even sure what she wanted to say.

 

_Cupcakes sound great! Let me know when and where and I’ll be there. :)_

She hit send and then suddenly realized that there were probably better ways to respond.

 

_So I take it you’re feeling better then?_

That was better.

 

Her phone buzzed again and the screen lit up with another message from Peggy.

 

_Very much, thanks. It’s Hello Cupcake. 1361 Connecticut Avenue NW. I’ll be there in about an hour._

_Awesome! See you soon ;)_

Angie typed in the winky face and sent the message before she even thought about it and she immediately felt a flush creeping into her cheeks. She was really glad that Peggy couldn’t see her right now.

 

Her phone buzzed one more time.

 

_It’s a date._

 

Angie felt her cheeks burn even hotter as her eyes flitted over the words again and again.

The rational part of her mind told her that it was just an expression. She hardly even knew this woman and here she was swooning over a text message.

Then again, Peggy’s face had more structure than Angie’s entire life and she was absolutely weak for that accent.

She was crushing.

_Hard._

The next episode had started playing and Angie dropped her phone as she scrambled to find the remote in the sea of blankets at the foot of her bed. She flicked off the TV and cursed as she noticed the spot of green polish on one of the buttons.

She now had less than an hour to shower, get dressed, and touch up her nail polish before meeting Peggy at the cupcake place.

And she should probably brush her teeth too.

Apparently, she had a date.

* * *

 

By the time Angie had gotten dressed and made the trek to the center of the city, the rain had let up, but the clouds were still hanging low and heavy in the sky.

Hello Cupcake was a tiny little place with plenty of natural light that illuminated the wooden floorboards and the big glass display case full of cupcakes. There was a young woman behind the counter who was staring at her phone and steadfastly pretending that she couldn’t see or hear anything that was going on in the small room.

“Angie?”

Angie’s head shot up at the familiar voice and her eyes landed on Peggy who was sitting at one of the little white plastic tables.

“Hey, Peggy,” Angie said. She smiled brightly and made her way over to her.

Peggy stood up as Angie came closer and she smiled.

“Hi,” Peggy said again. She opened her mouth to say something else, but she she seemed to think better of it and just smiled.

There was a moment of awkward silence and Angie’s mind refused to stand for that.

“It’s nice to see you up and around again. I was starting to  get a little worried.”

“Yes, well, no harm done,” Peggy said. Two light spots of pink appeared on her cheeks and she looked down at the floor.

More silence and Angie glanced down at her hands.

It was then that she noticed the black brace around Peggy’s knee.

She half wanted to ask about it, but she bit her tongue at the last second and just picked at a bubble of nail polish.

“So,” she said.

“Do you like cupcakes?” Peggy asked. She closed her eyes and sighed and when she opened them again, she was smiling. “Of course you like cupcakes. Why else would you be here? I was thinking that maybe we could get them to go and since it’s such a nice day, I thought we might go sit in the little park at the traffic circle. Does that sound all right?”

“That sounds perfect, English,” Angie said with a reassuring smile. “So what’s good here?”

* * *

 

As it turned out, just about everything was good and after much deliberation, Angie settled on a chocolate peanut butter cupcake with a swirl of peanut butter frosting on top. Peggy had ordered red velvet and Angie had teased her about it during the entire walk to the park.

 

“What on earth do you have against red velvet?” Peggy asked around a mouthful of the cupcake in question.

 

“Are you kiddin’?” Angie asked. “It tastes like Play-doh. It’s a complete lie. There’s nothing velvety about it! Plus it’s got beets in it and I absolutely refuse to stand for vegetables in my junk food.”

 

Peggy just rolled her eyes and scoffed.

 

“Oh, you can pretend to like it all you want, but don’t lie to yourself. You know the only good thing about it is the frosting and even then, it’s cream cheese and butter cream is about a million times better.”

 

“Do you always get so impassioned about your desserts?” Peggy asked.

 

“Only when other people are eating them wrong,” Angie quipped.

 

“And who exactly made you the authority on cupcake flavors?”

 

“You did the second you asked for red velvet.”

 

Angie bit her lip to keep from laughing at her own joke and bumped her shoulder playfully against Peggy’s.

 

They crossed the street and made it to the center of the traffic circle. There were a few other people milling around the green area, which Angie supposed wasn’t an unusual occurrence for two o’clock on a Friday afternoon.

 

Peggy settled down on a bench under a tree. Her right leg—the one with the brace on it—was stretched out just a little bit further than her left one, but at least it didn’t seem like it hurt her anymore.

 

Angie still couldn’t quite shake the urge to ask about it, but she didn’t want to seem rude, so she just kept her mouth busy with a bite of her cupcake.

 

“So why acting?” Peggy asked.

 

“Huh?”

 

Angie cringed as she felt a blob of peanut butter frosting fall down her chin and she quickly grabbed the napkin Peggy held out and wiped it away.

 

Peggy wasn’t exactly laughing, but there was a lighter tone to her voice as turned a little bit so that she could stretch her arm out across the back of the bench.

 

“Why did you go into acting?” she asked. “I mean, if that’s too personal, you don’t have to tell me, but I just thought that—“

 

“Hold on.” Angie held up her finger as she swallowed her cupcake and quickly wiped away any extra crumbs that might be trying to cling to her lipstick.

 

“Okay, acting. Well,” Angie paused and laced her fingers together in her lap. “I guess the short answer is that there’s always been a part of me that’s wanted to be someone else, so I just decided to do that for a job.” She shrugged and smiled at Peggy.

 

“And the long answer?”

 

“Is a story for another day,” Angie said smoothly.

 

“Fair enough,” Peggy said. “But I will say that you’re very good at it.”

 

“What do you mean?”

 

“Did you know that Netflix has practically your entire body of work available to anyone with an account and some spare time?”

 

Peggy raised one perfectly-shaped eyebrow and Angie’s eyes widened.

 

“Everything?” she asked.

 

Peggy nodded.

 

“And you watched it all.”

 

Peggy nodded again.

 

“Did you like anything?”

 

“Well my personal favorite is _Succession Line_ , but I’m going to take it by your being here that you’re not long for that show,” Peggy said.

 

“Hey, no spoilers!” Angie cried in mock surprise.

 

“I didn’t know television was such a secretive business,” Peggy replied coolly.

 

Angie offered her a small half-smile. “Well, you’re right,” she said. “And between you and me, I’m kind of glad about it. It’s been amazing and I’m grateful for it giving me a real start and all, but five years is a long time.

 

“Really?” Peggy asked. “I mean, I suppose I shouldn’t be so surprised. I guess that any job would start to get boring after a while.”

 

“Not _boring_ so much as it’s just…I don’t know. That show was only the third thing I ever did, excluding that weird Pringles commercial when I was really young and it gave me a name and a jumping off point and everything, but I just feel like I’m ready to branch out and try something new, you know?”

 

“Mmhm.” Peggy hummed in agreement and absently scratched around the top of her knee brace. “So what about this new project you’re working on? Do I get to know anything about that?”

 

“I wish,” Angie said. “Literally the only things I know for sure are that Howard Stark’s helming it and he wants me to play a veteran. I haven’t seen a script yet, I haven’t met any other stars, hell, I don’t even know if the thing’s been green lit yet. I just go where they tell me to go and say what they tell me to say.”

 

“Well that certainly sounds like Howard,” Peggy said with a brief smile that barely reached her eyes. “Always diving into things without really knowing what he’s doing.”

 

“Yeah.”

 

They fell into silence again, but this time it was more comfortable than awkward and Angie almost found herself enjoying it.

 

That was over in an instant, though, as Peggy cleared her throat and Angie felt her cheeks start burning again. Her fingers twitched of their own accord and she folded her hands in her lap to keep it from happening again.

 

Suddenly, she felt a drop on the back of her neck/

 

Angie looked up at the sky only to be met with a second raindrop right in her eye.

 

“Is it raining?” Peggy asked. She held her palm up and as if on cue, the heavy clouds opened up and the rain started pouring down around them.

 

“I can’t tell,” Angie said. “What do you think?”

 

Peggy just rolled her eyes as she got to her feet and grabbed Angie’s hand in hers. “Come on,” she said. “My house is only a block away. We can just wait out the rain or at least dry off a little before you go back to your hotel or—“

 

“Sounds great. Let’s move,” Angie said quickly.

 

Peggy tossed her and Angie’s cupcake wrappers in a nearby trash can before they both hurried off down the already-soaked street.

 

* * *

 

 

Despite the fact that it had been a week since her last visit, Angie still remembered the crumbling steps that led to Peggy’s townhouse.

 

Unlike last time, however, this climb was significantly easier without Peggy leaning on her the whole time.

 

They paused by the door for a moment and Peggy let go of Angie’s hand to fish her keys out of her pocket.

 

Angie immediately found herself missing the warm pressure and she closed her hand into a fist to try to make up for it.

 

It didn’t help, but it was better than nothing.

 

Peggy turned her key in the lock and bumped her shoulder against the door to get it open. She and Angie practically tumbled into the hallway.

 

The space was so narrow and small and Angie’s back was pressed up against the wall with Peggy barely an arm’s reach away, both of them dripping chilly raindrops on the rug.

 

“So,” Angie said.

 

“Yes,” Peggy said. She nodded to herself and tucked a wet lock of hair behind her ear. “Well, I think I’ll run upstairs and see if I can handle the clothing situation. In the meantime, make yourself at home.”

 

“Okay, cool. Thanks.”

 

Peggy just smiled and ducked into the stairwell to her left. Angie took that as her cue to go wait in the living room.

 

She had seen the living room on her last visit, of course, but she had been a little too preoccupied to really take a look around.

 

The living room ran the width of the house and there were windows all along the back wall looking out over a small deck with a mostly-green yard beyond.

 

The furniture in the room was all mismatched and clearly chosen for function over aesthetic.

 

There was a table that had been repurposed as a desk and tall bookshelves against the walls covered with floral paper.

 

The sofa was decked out with afghans and fluffy cushions that looked a little more comfortable than Angie had expected, but something about it still seemed so positively _Peggy_.

 

Angie noticed a fireplace on the other side of the room with an impressive collection of knick-knacks on the mantle above it.

 

So apparently Peggy collected snow globes. Angie filed that tidbit away for later.

 

There was a flag case front and center with a set of shiny metal dog tags hanging off the top.

 

Angie stepped a little bit closer so she could read the name on them.

 

_Rogers, Steven G._

 

Angie started to reach out to see the other side.

 

“I have dry clothes!”

 

Angie jumped at the sound of Peggy’s voice. She yanked her hand back to her side as she spun around and tried her hardest to pretend that she was absolutely not snooping.

 

To be fair, she wasn’t really sure it qualified as snooping anyway what with it being out in the open and all that, but something about it still felt wrong.

 

Private.

 

As in Angie needed to keep her hands and her feelings to herself.

 

She plastered a smile on her face as Peggy stepped into the room with an armful of clothes.

 

“I wasn’t quite sure what would fit you, so I grabbed some things that my old roommate left behind when she moved out. There’s a bathroom right across the kitchen if you want to change.” Peggy held out the clothes and Angie accepted them with a grateful nod.

 

“I’ll be right back,” she said.

 

Angie ducked past Peggy and slipped into the cramped little bathroom that Peggy had pointed out.

 

As she tried to get changed without banging her legs on the toilet, Angie couldn’t help but think about all the times she had complained about her apartment back in New York City. When she got back, she was never going to whine about her bathroom being too small ever again.

 

It turned out that Peggy was apparently really good at eyeballing Angie’s size and Angie wasn’t quite sure how to feel about that.

 

The jeans Peggy had brought her were a little long, but they fit well enough and though the sweatshirt probably wasn’t the best option for the weather, it was comfortable and the rain had cooled the air enough that Angie probably wouldn’t die walking home. It also had a strangely familiar and not-entirely-unpleasant scent clinging to it.

 

Almost like a strange mix of flowers, cinnamon, and vanilla.

 

It was strange for sure, but Angie slipped it on anyway.

 

Her bra was still wet and that was a pretty uncomfortable situation, but at least most of her clothes were dry now. That was an improvement.

 

“Are you okay in there?” Peggy called.

 

“Yup, hold on,” Angie replied. She wadded her wet clothes up in her hands and opened the door to get back out into the hall. Peggy held out a plastic bag and Angie dropped her clothes in it before grabbing it and looking down at the sweatshirt she was wearing. “Yale?”

 

Those two pink spots appeared on Peggy’s cheeks again. Angie was really beginning to like them.

 

“Like I said, I had a roommate for the first few months that I was down here, but she moved out rather suddenly and left some old things behind. I’m just glad that they’ve turned out to be useful for once,” Peggy explained.

 

“Well it’s nice,” Angie said. “Comfy.”

 

“Good.”

 

There was a pause and Angie glanced into the living room. She had a clear line of sight to the backyard and lo and behold, the rain had stopped and the sun was finally shining.

 

“I should, uh…I should probably get going,” Angie said quickly. “You know, beat the rain back to my hotel and everything.”

 

“So soon?” Peggy asked. “I was thinking maybe since you were here anyway, we could—“

 

“I really wish I could stay, English, but I should really get back. I’ve still gotta call a friend of mine back out in LA and with the time difference and everything, it’s really probably just better if I leave.”

 

_Nice one, Angie. Cool as a cucumber and twice as smooth._

Maybe it was just Angie’s imagination, but Peggy almost looked a little bit upset. Her smiled faltered and there wasn’t as much of a sparkle in her eye.

 

“Yes, of course,” Peggy said, shaking her head a few times as if to clear it. “You go. I’ll talk to you later this weekend, though, if you haven’t got any plans and maybe since our last interview got cut so short, we could meet again and finish where we left off.”

 

“Sounds great,” Angie said. “I’ve got no plans, so just text me whenever you’re free and we can get together.”

 

“Excellent.”

 

Angie kept telling herself that she was going to turn around and just walk out the front door already, but her legs didn’t seem to want to listen to her and her eyes kept falling stubbornly to Peggy’s crimson lips.

 

_God, Angie, control yourself._

Suddenly there was a loud buzz and she and Peggy both jumped.

 

“That would be my phone,” Peggy said. Her cheeks flushed as she pulled it out of her pocket and checked the caller ID. “I should probably take this,” she said. “But I’ll see you again soon?”

 

“You can’t get rid of me that easily, English,” Angie replied with a grin.”

 

Peggy smiled back and before Angie could embarrass herself any further, she slipped the shopping bag with her wet clothes over her wrist and turned on her heel.

 

She could hear Peggy answering her cell phone and she was especially glad that Peggy didn’t see her almost slip on the damp patch right in front of the door.

 

Angie stole one last brief glance back and saw Peggy leaning in the living room doorway facing out the back windows and running her hand through her hair as she listened to the person on the other end of the line.

 

Angie bit her lip and quickly averted her eyes as she hurried back outside.

 

She made it all the way to the sidewalk before she realized that the smell on the sweatshirt was Peggy’s perfume.

* * *

 

 It was getting late.

 

In fact, it had passed late at least a few hours ago and was now nearing early in the morning, but Angie was still awake, still dressed in her borrowed clothes, still trying not to think about how nice Peggy’s perfume would smell on the sterile hotel pillows.

 

And the X-Files reruns were still playing, which at least gave her something of an excuse for being up at nearly one o’clock in the morning.

 

Her phone buzzed on her nightstand.

 

Angie was really going to need to have a serious talk with Dottie about time zones.

 

But she was awake and the message was there, so she rolled over to check it anyway.

 

It wasn’t from Dottie.

 

It was from Peggy.

 

_Sorry to bother you so late, but I was thinking we could meet this Sunday near the Washington Monument? There’s some lovely tourist traps and national treasures and all that that I could show you and some quiet areas where we could sneak off and talk. Let me know if you’re free!_

Angie grabbed the pillow next to her and hugged it to her chest, burying her face in the pillowcase for a moment.

 

She should _not_ be this excited over a text.

 

Except she _was_ excited and it was useless trying to pretend otherwise.

 

She was halfway through typing out a brief response when she stopped. She had to play this cool. This was just two friends—acquaintances, even—meeting to talk so that Angie could get paid if and when Howard ever got that damn script to her.

 

Angie couldn’t just send any old response. No, she needed something better.

 

That was when it hit her.

 

She typed out the message and hit ‘send’ before she had the chance to second guess herself.

 

 _OK English. It’s a date._  


End file.
